ITV4 : not bad at all

JTA

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I've take a good look at the ITV4 schedule, and it's not bad at all, quite a lot of (old) scifi series : Timecop, UFO, First Wave, Alien Nation, Andromeda, Earth Final Conflict
also many pseudo-scifi series : Department S, Randall & Hopkirk, Dark Skies, the Champions
and we add some other ITC series as Jason King, the Saint, the Persuaders, the Protectors
it would also seem that they're starting a series of spaghetti westerns, starting off with Django.
All this in the first 10 days of broadcasting !

I've also found the Avengers, but this was on BBC FOUR.
 

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Hey, JTA, thanks for that ITV4 info, sounds great!

Many of these 1960s and early 70s series came from (now defunct) ATV - courtesy of Lew Grade (Michael's dad!) - and were British made international products designed to compete with Hollywood made stuff. Hence, very stylish.

Nice to see return of Department S, etc, on free-to-view tv. No doubt we'll all have a good laugh at Peter Wyngard's (Jason King's) clothes, whilst at the same time enjoying these still excellent programmes.

(See:

www.delta-shopping.de/portal/artikel/pics/402062899136420050614_143534.jpg ).
 

JTA

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spiney said:
Many of these 1960s and early 70s series came from (now defunct) ATV - courtesy of Lew Grade (Michael's dad!) - and were British made international products designed to compete with Hollywood made stuff. Hence, very stylish.
I know. You can have a good peek at these series at tv-ark's http://www.tv-ark.org.uk/cult/cultitc-new.html ITC cult section.
 

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spiney said:
courtesy of Lew Grade (Michael's dad!)

Sorry, Michael's dad was Leslie Grade, Lew was his uncle. There were 3 Grade brothers; Lew, Leslie and Bernard Delfont (!)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/tv_and_radio/3591987.stm
 

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Oops, thanks PaulR, I stand corrected (should have checked first)!

However, ATV was certainly the "powerhouse" behind many of these "American style" (slick, highly commercial) tv series.

Lew Grade then "branched out" into (cinema) films. Unfortunately, at exactly this time, disaster films were becomming popular, necessitating large special effects budgets. So, he put lots of money into "Raise the Titanic". As he famously said later, "it would have been cheaper to lower the Atlantic"!

After which, there was temporarily not too much money for new programmes, and then ATV unfortunately lost its ITV franchise to Central, making Thames TV the "major player" (The Sweeny, etc).

((Apart from The Bill, name some memorable programmes made by Central!
(added!) - oops, another mistake from me, as The Bill is actually made by Thames!))

Lew was from an "entertainment" background, so knew his business, and made ATV into the only effective British "competitor" to Hollywood TV (at that time). He was also a "character", and apparently danced a very good Charleston (even aged 80!).

See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lew_Grade .

Also: www.teletronic.co.uk/grade.htm .

Not so well known, but also important for some very famous 1960s tv series, was Sidney Newman. see: www.televisionheaven.co.uk/hisnewman.htm .

(Hmmm, I was then going to say The Avengers idea was suggested by Ian Fleming, as a spoof of his James Bond novels, but some checking reveals this was actually The Man From Uncle, so "almost oops"!).

Yes, I'm now in "rambling on and on forever mode... ", but these tv progs were the best ever, having stood the test of time extremely well, and much of this was due to the above 2 people.
 

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Just a shame they decided to spoil things by showing a Chelsea game.:D
 

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jimbo said:
Just a shame they decided to spoil things by showing a Chelsea game.:D
Unfortunately due to a dispute with Sky [ugly word] they will not be showing the Chelsea game tonight, its going to be on Men & Motors [ What !!! ] including the boxing at the weekend. This info is from a report on the back of the Express sports page this morning, and ITV4 will not be able to show any Euro football until Nov 7th. Sky say that ITV were warned about this in July. It appears that Sky control everyhing as usual [Ugh Rupert Murdoch, such a dirty word].:-bash
 

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Looks like they've also delayed the whole opening of ITV4 for another 24 hours on terrestrial as well.

Football aside, I can't believe that even the repeats everyone was (really) looking forward to, come under the same prohibition.
 

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Channel Hopper said:
Looks like they've also delayed the whole opening of ITV4 for another 24 hours on terrestrial as well.

Football aside, I can't believe that even the repeats everyone was (really) looking forward to, come under the same prohibition.
Despite what the Express said this morning it appears that itv4 is up and running with the football, and Men & Motors is showing the same thing both on terrestrial.:-doh!
 

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In my search for ITV4 just stumbled upon "UTV" who is presently showing the UEFA game Liverpool against Anderlecht. Sure looks and sound like an ITV station to me???

According to Channel hopper seems we have to wait until tomorrow night to find ITV4

Pligs
 

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Pligs76 said:
According to Channel hopper seems we have to wait until tomorrow night to find ITV4
Pligs

Apologies for the confusion. My TV, when tuned into either 30 or 38 a half hour before the intended launch, showed a digital clock counting down 24:25, 24:24 etc, and I thought it was still one day away.:eek: :rolleyes:

I will check myself into a(nother) nuthouse tomorrow morning.
 

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UTV = Ulster Television, part of ITV1 but not owned by ITV plc.
 

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Anyway, whatever, ITV4 got properly going!

So I watched Departent S. Before 1st ad break, spotted 3 wigs (excluding Peter Wyngarde, that's real hair!), and 2 "painted on" outside scenes (seen through windows). Then, after the ads, a ridiculous karate chop.

Followed by The Saint, Roger Moore before his mole mysteriously vanished (the later series with Ian Ogilvy wasn't as good).

Which all adds to the viewing fun, as these days we're used to "hyper reality", but back then people didn't much notice such "quality lapses" on tv progs.

Unfortunately, both progs had been digitally reprocessed, making them look a bit strange, I'd have preferred the original negatives albeit with a few scratches.
 

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ITV Four is pants!
 

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kidman said:
ITV Four is pants!
Thankyou for your considered opinion. :D Is there any particular reason for this or just a general feeling?

I'll take a guess that you're under 30. You'll find that most people who watching ITV4 are off on a nostalgia kick for a lot of the programmes.
 

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i think of all the m8`s ive scissor kicked and speared after watchin episodes of this in my youth:-doh!
 

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Crumbs, didn't realise that was on, better set it to record. :)
 

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Been watching Now & Again - which is another pseudo-sci-fi I guess.

Def a nice mix of classic sci-fi (e.g. UFO) and minor re-runs (e.g. First Wave), I hope they plan to continue. There are plenty of 90's US stuff that never made it onto analogue terrestrial that could start an audience - after all they need to make up for ITV-1 :-doh!
 

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well you can see the planet of the apes every sunday now, in front of space1999. One of those "90s US stuff" series.
I'm currently waiting for reruns of "Logans run" and "Kung Fu". Although "Luke's kingdom" or "Sapphire and Steel" would be very welcome too :D
 
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